Page 61 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2019

Local guide and FYO charter fishing team member, Marcus McDavid, agreed. “People
are skittish about the water when they call to cancel. I’m worried about the Breton Sound diversion being discussed. That would destroy fishing in the area.”
Brad Schmit, another charter captain we fish with out
of Port Sulphur, runs an operation with several boats. He mentioned that several of my personal friends who have fished with him in the past cancelled their bookings this year. “The freshwater intrusion killed the trout fishing in this area. It was devastating. Long-time customers would call and ask about the trout fishing. I had to be honest but when I would tell them that we could catch redfish and maybe bass but no trout, they declined to book.” He went on to add that, “In some of my prime trout fishing areas near Mardi Gras Pass they were harvesting thousands of sacks of crawfish in areas that used to be salt water.”
After the Deepwater Horizon incident, Britt Ordes found that, “When long term customers are forced to go elsewhere to fish, they develop new habits and often times don’t come back, so the effect can be long term.” And the conditions which led to the fresh-water intrusion this past year are likely to occur in following years.
The good news is that the fishing is good right now
and we should take advantage of it. But we should all be concerned about the long-term effect on the natural habitat we have enjoyed for years. You can help by becoming informed about the problem, understanding the possible solutions, and being vocal in expressing our concerns with our political representatives.
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< David Kuehn III with his cobia.
Erek Hebert with a nice trout.